Edwin Gardner Ames papers, 1856-1931  PDF

Edwin Gardner Ames, lumber company executive, banker, and political activist, was manager of the Pope & Talbot interests in the Puget Sound region and a leading figure in the Seattle business community of the early twentieth century. Ames was born in East Machias, Maine, on July 2, 1856. He was a cousin of Captain William Talbot, co-owner of the Pope & Talbot companies. Ames went to work for Pope & Talbot’s subsidiary, the Puget Mill Company at Port Gamble, Washington, in 1881. Soon afterwards, he was promoted to business manager. In 1888 he married Maud Walker, the niece of Edwin’s superior, Cyrus Walker, general manager of the Puget Mill Company and a Pope & Talbot stockholder. Upon Cyrus Walker’s death in 1914, Ames took his position as general manager. When Maud’s mother, Emma Walker, died in 1919, the couple inherited a fortune, which was administered as the Walker-Ames Company with Edwin Ames as president.

The business acumen of Edwin Ames and Cyrus Walker was one of the major reasons why the Pope & Talbot interests maintained their position as the largest lumber operators on Puget Sound throughout the late nineteenth century. In the 1890s Ames led the drive to modernize the mills at Port Gamble and Port Ludlow in order to reduce waste and meet the lucrative demand for specialized sizes of high-quality lumber. Ames directed the company to start hiring its own logging crews and cutting on its own land to avoid having to buy high-priced logs from independent logging companies in the early twentieth century. He was also in charge of the company’s efforts to sell its logged lands in the Alderwood and Broadmoor areas. Ames managed the Puget Mill Company until it was sold to the Richard McCormick interests in 1925. After the sale, Ames remained active in the company, watching after Pope & Talbot’s investments in the McCormick Company until his retirement in 1931.

Ames took a leading part in efforts to bring stability to the notoriously turbulent lumber industry. He was active in the Pacific Coast Lumber Manufacturers' Association and its successor, the West Coast Lumbermen’s Association. Ames served as president of the latter from 1918 to 1923. The government repeatedly investigated these groups for antitrust violations but was never able to bring charges, largely because their price-fixing efforts almost always fell apart after a year or two. Indeed, Ames had the distinction of crafting one of the few lasting cooperative ventures in the industry: he founded the Pacific Lumber Inspection Bureau in 1906. The bureau was composed of industry officials who inspected shipments of lumber to insure that they met the buyer’s specifications. Previously, lumber mills had been at the mercy of buyers who demanded partial rebates, claiming that the shipment was unsatisfactory.

Although Ames was very conservative politically, he supported reforms that benefited the timber industry. Realizing that the high number of logging accidents made it difficult to recruit workers and left the company vulnerable to lawsuits, Ames led the successful 1911 effort to pass workers’ compensation legislation. This gave Washington the nation’s first compulsory workers’ compensation program. During the First World War, Ames led the group of lumber firms that unsuccessfully resisted government efforts to impose the eight-hour day. In his own mills, Ames generally fired any worker with overt pro-union sentiments. Although Ames shunned political office himself, he was a key financial backer of conservative Republicans in state and local politics. He was an astute political observer, and his letters to family, friends, and associates often included commentary on Seattle and Washington politics.

In addition, Ames served on the board of directors of three large Seattle banks. He was also a major benefactor of the University of Washington. When his wife died in 1931, Ames moved to the Rainier Club and donated his Seattle house to the University to become the official residence of its president. Ames died in Seattle on November 20, 1935. His will created the Walker-Ames Foundation, a fund which finances numerous programs at the university.